Category: Politics

July 3, 2006 (AFP) – The chief negotiator for Northern Ireland’s main Roman Catholic party, Sinn Fein, was quoted by Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka as saying a European Union ban on the guerillas was a “huge mistake.” Martin McGuinness travelled to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi for talks with the political leadership of the […]

July 2, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s Tiger rebels hit back Sunday at claims by the United Nations that more than 1000 children are enlisted as soldiers, saying its reports are grossly exaggerated.The United Nations Children’s Fund released a list of 1,387 children last week that it said were rebel soldiers amid increasing violence in […]

July 2, 2006 (AFP) – A freelance Sri Lankan journalist was gunned down near the capital Colombo on Sunday, police said, but rejected claims that the killing was linked to the ongoing Tamil separatist conflict.Sampath Lakmal, who was in his mid twenties, had worked as a freelance journalist at two Sinhalese language newspapers and a […]

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, July 2, 2006 (AFP) – Roadside killings and night-time knocks on the door have replaced mortars and suicide bombs as the new terror in this northern Sri Lankan city.And it is increasingly the residents here who suffer, many say, as the government and Tamil separatist groups carry out a vicious “undeclared war” […]

July 1, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan gunboats sank a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel craft off the island’s northern military port of Kankesanthurai, the navy said Saturday. The rebel boat caught fire and sank after it was hit by naval fire about eight kilometres (five miles) from the entrance to the military facility, navy spokesman […]

June 30, 2006 (AFP) – At least 11 people were killed in fresh violence in Sri Lanka, the military and the Tamil rebels said Friday, as Nordic truce monitors mulled their future role on the troubled island.The LTTE has also warned against Norway’s withdrawal, saying in a statement Monday that war would be “unavoidable” if […]

June 29, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse was Thursday elected the all-powerful leader of his party, replacing a scion of the Bandaranaike ruling dynasty for the first time, a spokesman said. Rajapakse, 60, was unanimously elected head of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), consolidating his hold on the government and further […]

OSLO, June 29, 2006 (AFP) – Five Nordic nations held talks here Thursday to try to salvage Sri Lanka’s faltering ceasefire, as the slaying of a top army general underscored the threat of full-scale war. Peace broker Norway met with the four other members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Oslo for five […]

June 29, 2006 (AFP) – Sri Lanka warned peace broker Norway against any deal with Tamil Tiger rebels, just before Nordic nations ended a meeting Thursday without a decision on their truce-monitoring mission in the island.Sri Lanka’s top official coordinating peace efforts with Norway, Palitha Kohona, insisted there should be no unilateral action to change […]

June 28, 2006 (AFP) – Tamil Tiger guerrillas fired mortar bombs at an army camp in northeastern Sri Lanka Wednesday, killing one soldier and wounding three others, the defence ministry said.The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) staged a pre-dawn attack on the Kokkuthuduvai camp using mortars, spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said. “We have retaliated […]